Rewind, Rewind
by tigerballz
Summary: In which Yamanaka Ino discovers the joys of laced Hello Kitty panties, exploding action figures and how not to jam a mixtape. Shoujo-ai! Yuri! InoSaku. Rated a high T for language.
1. Track One

**「Rewind, Rewind」  
By: **prinzessin at the shakedown  
**Beta:** CrazyNinjaPenguin  
**Warnings!: **Overactive hormone driven thoughts, stinky language, and sexual situations.  
**Disclaimer: **I do not ownz, I just screw around a lot.

xx

_What does life symbolize to you?_  
Adv. English & Creative Writing - Period 3  
By Yamanaka Ino

When I was younger I used to live next to this batshit  
crazy artist guy named Deidara. He had really long  
blond hair and his house was painted a bright neon  
yellow (something most of the elderly couples on our  
street weren't too happy about). All the neighbors  
would get really pissed because whenever he was  
working on his 'art' he'd have these old glamrock or  
metal songs from the 1980's playing at full volume,  
and get this: he would sing right along with them.  
Unfortunately, he wasn't really the most flattering  
singer.

Being a nosy, curious nine-and-a-half-year-old, I  
loved to sneak out of the house to see what he was  
currently working on. My mom sometimes caught me  
trying to visit the neon house and she'd always  
threaten to punish me if I ever went there again. I  
went anyways. He didn't really mind me being there,  
always saying, "The youth today should be more  
creative! Art is a bang, un!"

One day in late August, just a few days before I would  
start fifth grade, I was sitting on Deidara's old and  
beaten 1986 Ford Thunderbird as usual watching my  
insane neighbor work on his 'bomb art'. On the stereo  
one of Ozzy Osbourne's softer melodies was playing. I  
was flipping through one of Deidara's worn out art  
magazines and the question popped into my head.

"Deidara, why do you listen to music all the time?" at  
saying that, the blondie stopped working on his  
project immediately. "'Scuse me?" he called out over  
the stereo. So I repeated the question, only in a  
louder and more cocky tone (yes, even back in the day  
I was still an arrogant little twit), "WHY DO YOU  
LISTEN TO MUSIC ALL OF THE TIME?"

Deidara grunted and wiped his hands. He hopped over  
some of his disregarded bits and pieces of clay to  
shut off the radio. Then he walked my way and motioned  
for me to move over. I did, and he sat right next to  
me. I put away the magazine and crossed my legs,  
anticipating what the crazy weirdo was going to say.

"Why I listen to music, un? Why do you breathe?" He  
joked, giving a hard chuckle. He turned his head and  
stared me straight in the eye. "Look, little miss Ino,  
music is the vibrancy of life next to art. Music is  
always remade, remixed and recycled. That's sort of  
like life, right, un?"

I remember that I blinked really slowly and smiled  
nervously at his words. "Um...noooo," I said slowly.  
Deidara just rolled his eyes and scowled. "Ah, jeez.  
Why the hell am I saying it like this?" He took a deep  
breath and started again, "Okay, you know what a  
mixtape is, right?" I nodded a yes. "Well, let's say  
life is like a mixtape, un. You know how on a mixtape  
you never really know what song is going to come up  
next?" I didn't actually know that, but I said I did  
so he wouldn't get angry. "Life is like that. You  
never know what the hell's gonna happen next. Things  
always happen unexpectedly."

Jumping off the car I saw him stretch out his arms.  
"And that's why I listen to music, un," he stated in a  
matter-of-fact sort of tone, "it represents the short,  
random pattern of life." As he finished stretching he  
blew out a breath of air and smiled at me. "But  
remember Missy Ino. You can never press that rewind  
button, or else the mixtape will jam right up."

I rolled my head sideways and raised an eyebrow. At  
the time I thought he was talking like a  
pshyco-murderer, like that dude from Silence of the  
Lambs. But as I grew older, I began to understand  
those words he said to me. Life really was a mixtape;  
everything was unexpected. It isn't a perfect  
comparison, I suppose; I mean, some mixtapes come with  
a label saying what songs are on them, but there's no  
fun in those.

So how on Earth did I remember all of that? I guess I  
just have a supersonic memory file lodged in my head  
somewhere. In conclusion, that is what symbolizes life  
in my opinion: mixtape, pure and simple.

xx

"Asshole," I muttered under my breath while stomping my way through the hallways to get to my locker. Twisting the knob on the lock I deepened my voice in imitation of what Mr. Jiraiya had just lectured me about, "'Ino, your essay was a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting more from you, but all I have here is the work of a J.D. Salinger wannabe.' Freakin' asshole!"

The last bit I yelled out, and I knew I received a few more stares than my usual dosage of unwanted attention. Shoving a few unfinished homework assignments into my locker I slammed the door shut and murmured to myself while violently zipping up my backpack, "Jerk...trying to tell me what to do. Communist zombie political pig...graaah!"

I kicked the wall in a fit of rage. Geez, I got to watch my temper sometimes. While screaming out random obscenities in my head I turned around and noticed that Hinata was standing a few steps away from me, a more than worried expression on her face.

Meet Hinata: Uber shy, uber smart, and cute to the core...also my number one most reliable source to copy homework off of.

"U-um, Ino? You're alright, r-right?," she stuttered and started to take a step forward but immediately stepped back like she was afraid I was going to bite her head off or something. "Y-you're talking to yourself a-again. Well, more like sc-sc-sc-," Hinata coughed and cleared her throat. Aww. "Sc-screaming."

Blinking once I instantly straightened up from my position and put on my signature happy face. "Yeah! Don't worry Hinata, I'm totally cool. Yeah, totally cool," I found myself growling out that last part.

"O-Oh. Okay then! Y-You should hurry up, the buses w-will be leaving soon," Hinata informed me.

"Ah! Don't worry about me Hinata, I know."

Slinging my backpack onto my shoulders I grinned in the girl's direction. That's when I noticed something. Hinata wasn't wearing one of her over sized sweatshirts today. Just a tank top and a small, tight cardigan. Then I looked a little lower.

Whoa.

Forget B cups, those had to be at least a 38 C! Damn! She had great legs too, I noted. Especially with that frilly mid thigh length skirt...

"Ino?"

Snapping my head up my eyes met with Hinata's. Feeling caught, I instantaneously found an excuse. "Ehhh...I really like your cardigan, it's super rad," I blurted out, maybe a bit too quickly.

A sudden familiar blush invaded the shorter girl's face. "Oh, th-thank you! I just got it the other day and-"

"Hinata!"

Both of us immediately looked down the hall. Standing by the exit was Neji, Hinata's cousin, and possibly the biggest ego-freak in school next to that Sasuke kid. I don't get what he prided himself in. He had longer hair than I did and the most girlish hips I've ever seen on a fifteen year old boy.

"What are you doing?" he called out in a scolding tone, "you don't have time to socialize. After-school ballet classes, remember?"

Hinata looked to the ground, a shade of embarrassment over-toning her blushing. "R-right, Neji. I'm sorry Ino, we'll talk sometime l-later. Goodbye!"

"'Kay, bye," I replied as I watched her hurry down the halls. Then suddenly, as if the gods of oblivion meant for this to happen, a soft gust of wind burst through the open doors and flipped up her skirt, ever so slightly.

Oh.

Oh God.

At that moment my mind was invaded by the images of pink, Hello Kitty panties. WITH LACE.

It's times like these where I find my life terribly cliché. I mean really; those old wind-up-the-skirt incidents have been featured in every chick flick and romance novel I've ever read.

Things like this have happened to me before. Like when I was in 5th grade we were playing soccer, then out of nowhere I tripped and 'accidentally' landed right on top of this Kin girl. Well, it was a real accident but the gal thought otherwise and threatened to beat the daylights out of me if anything like that happened again. I'm pretty sure she liked it though, since, right after she was screaming and yelling, a small part of her lip curved up into a grin.

Another example: 7th grade. It was during Math class and my teacher, being the lovely angel that she was, decided to pair us up with study buddies from the 8th grade. I got this wacky-haired chick by the name of TenTen. So this is what went down: I'm silently and calmly trying to finish the rest of my homework like any other normal, conscientious student. Then out of freaking nowhere TenTen is right in front my desk, looking down at me like she's some superior being.

"You Ino?"

"Uhh, yeah?"

"We're supposed to study together, right?" She stated, simultaneously leaning over my desk and placing her hands on my textbook.

That's lovely.

Then her arms started to squish her boobs together as she leaned in.

That's heavenly.

Did I mention she was wearing her shirt practically half unbuttoned and a near transparent strapless bra?

Now that's GODLY.

So it's no wonder that sooner or later in my 15th year of living, I would come to question my sexuality and whether or not I prefered mammary glands over masculinity. I sometimes look upon my life as a tad bit pathetic, seeing as how I am a girl and I had more suggestive encounters with chicks than I did with dudes. Now, don't get me wrong. I like guys too, but for some odd reason, I could never find myself completely attracted to one. It always seems as if I just have bad luck with the opposite sex.

When I was in kindergarten, I remember having a huge crush on Uchiha Sasuke. But I think the only real reason I liked him was because my best friend, Sakura, had a crush on him too. And since I was (and still am) a competitive, bitchy and bossy little child, I couldn't allow Sakura to show me up. If ANYONE was going to get all of our female classmates jealous by getting with Sasuke, it was going to be me.

Soon enough, both Sakura and I realized what a complete bigot Sasuke ended up to be. Even though he started out nice and innocent in our younger years, the power got to his head. I mean really, he goes around with his own goddamn compact mirror to check his hair and he talks as if he owns everyones ass. The dude even goes around announcing for everyone to clear the hallways so he can get through.

Of course, since at least half the population of the girls in our school are head over heels infatuated with him, he usually ends up getting what he wants. Damn son-of-a-bitch. Because of that, I found myself highly disgusted by dudes who thought they were the hot shiz, which is pretty much most of the men occupying this planet.

Ahh, maybe I'm exaggerating...

xx

"EEEEEYAAAAH!"

I was in the middle of doing my Algebra homework when I heard the familiar banshee-like screaming that could only possibly come from my mother. I stopped doing my work and sat there for a few minutes listening to the guy who fucks my mom (otherwise known as my mother's fiancé, Iruka) trying to calm the pshyco down. It seemed ineffective, as all of his calm words just made the woman screech even more.

Groaning and rolling out of my seat I made my way through the hallways to the kitchen. Anything that had to do with my mom yelling and hollering had to be more entertaining than trying to find the standard form of a linear equation.

Once I entered the kitchen it was like an army of screaming rabbits was unleashed upon me. In the background the small, impudent whimpers of the fiancé could be heard.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT THING TO MOVE BACK TO OUR PEACEFUL ENVIRONMENT!," My mom screeched, making my ears cringe. "I'VE WORKED TOO HARD, IRUKA! TOO HARD! I WILL NOT ALLOW MY DREAM OF LIVING LIKE A PERFECT HOUSEWIFE BE SHATTERED BY THAT SOCIAL...SOCIAL...REJECT!"

Turning my gaze towards Iruka, I could tell he wasn't a man of pride. To let a woman scream at you; that's one thing. Now, to let a woman who is 5 feet tall, weighs one hundred and fifteen pounds scream AND overpower your ego at the same time? That's a whole different level of domination, mi amigo.

"Honey, your dreams won't be shattered," Iruka said weakly, beads of sweat forming on his brow. "We've dealt with him before and the last time he was here, he was much younger. Now that he's older, he's probably matured."

Ooh. That sparked my curiosity. Who was this mysterious 'him'? Maybe a rebellious teenager who ran away and now decided to return? A distraught writer who went insane and got released from the asylum only a week ago, wanting to come back to the calm suburbs of Konoha to reclaim his former love? Or possibly just grandpa Katashi?

"What do you mean Mom?" I started, my insides overflowing with anxiety. "Who's coming back?"

I looked over to my mother who was lighting a cigarette with her bony and shaking hands. Before she answered she took a long, deep inhale of smoke.

"That 'artist', Ino darling. That goddamn artist."

When I heard that I stopped to think for a few seconds. Artist? After a moment, my slow as hell mind suddenly pieced it all together. I could feel my heart rise up to my throat.

"Deidara?"

xx

**A/N: **This is my first attempt at a yuri fic! I'm actually really happy with my results and this was so much fun to come up with. I want to give a humongous 'Thank you!' to the beta of this fic. Without CrazyNinjaPenguin's help this fic would be complete failure, eheh...-sweatdrop-

Anyways, to anyone who happened to stumble upon this, please give me some feedback! Reviews are like crack for almost every author on this site. So, readers! Please tell me what you all think. Or else I'll have to go through withdrawal.

Dx

- Prinzessin


	2. Track Two

**「Rewind, Rewind」  
By: **prinzessin at the shakedown  
**Beta: **CrazyNinjaPenguin

xx

**/ Track Two  
**  
I was trying to hook on my bra when I saw the huge U-Haul truck tumble its way down the street from my bedroom window. The driver must have been under the influence of something, because the truck kept on swerving into mailboxes and just missed hitting Mrs. Mura who was walking her dog. When I stuck my head out of the window I saw that the truck had stopped in front of the fading neon yellow house.

Smiling to myself, I tried to contain my excitement. After throwing on a tank top and some jeans, I ran down the stairs and flew into the kitchen, a more than invincible look on my face. Snatching a packet of pop-tarts from the pantry, I shoved them into the toaster and took a pencil of eyeliner from my backpack, which was hanging from the back of one of the table chairs.

Walking up to the huge, unnecessary mirror that was behind the dining table (a piece of furniture my mother just HAD to get), I continued my morning routine and began to apply my makeup.

Right in the middle of putting on my eyeshadow, I saw my mother enter the kitchen in the reflection of the mirror. She was wearing a mid-thigh length skirt and a white silk dress shirt. I could see every bone in her leg twitch as she approached me.

"Good morning Ino, darling," She greeted me while running a thin hand through my hair. "Hm...split ends. You should take care of you hair a little bit more."

The tone of her voice was bitter and sharp as always. I ignored it and continued to streak on some mascara. I could practically hear the scowl on my mother's face as she looked over what I was wearing.

"How many times do I have to tell you Ino? Purple is NOT your color. It makes you look even more pale than you already are...," she remarked, making small attempts to smooth out my clothing. "And why can't you ever slip on a skirt once in a while, hm? These jeans make your legs look atrocious."

At hearing that I had to stop and take a slow inhale of breath. My inner emotions were screaming, "FALCON PUNCH THAT HO!" but I had to keep my reserve. I didn't want to get into another argument with my mother, especially when it was Monday. When I heard her give a deep sigh, I knew the critique was over. I watched my mom as she walked off to pick up her purse on the counter.

"I'll be home around eight thirty today. I promised some co-workers of mine that we'd go out for some cocktails. There's some leftover lasagna and salad in the fridge, that will be your dinner. Please don't eat it all like last time, I don't want you to gain anymore weight."

When I heard the word 'weight' I just rolled my eyes and snapped my eyeshadow packet shut. My mother was crazy about that crap, weight and all. She was always trying to get me to diet with her or go to the gym to work out together. Honestly, I'm fine with my figure and if I can still fit into the jeans that I've had since 6th grade, I'm good. She obviously doesn't agree though.

"Do you have your keys?" she asked, quickly smearing lip-gloss onto her thin lips.

"Yeah, right here," I answered bluntly, jingling them off the hook of my finger.

"Good girl," I heard her say. The click-clack of her heels made an annoying sound and when she leaned over to give me a quick kiss the gloss she had applied left a circle of melted plastic on my cheek. "Have a nice day, darling." While she said that she eyed the pop-tart I had in my hand and sighed.

"If you keep eating that junk you'll end up like your friend Choji," She laughed as she made her way out the door. "Bye bye!"

Once she shut the front door I mumbled, "Later, bitch," and chewed on my pop-tart defiantly.

xx

Seeing as how I didn't have a fabulous morning, I didn't have a fabulous day either. First and second period seemed to drag on forever. My English class I got ANOTHER lecture from Mr. Jiraiya for the third time that week. In fourth period I had a lovely pop-quiz about the history of Vietnam (which had NOTHING to do with what we were supposed to be learning by the way). In fifth I got pummeled by volleyballs, and I got a demerit for being in the halls and not getting to my sixth period class in time. But all that wasn't the worst of it. Lunch was the cherry on top of my ice cream Sunday dish of doom.

When I entered the lunchroom I could tell people were staring at me again. My wonderful hair had gone a bit frizzy because the weather outside was all on menopause and drizzling rain. I had also started to accidentally rub my eyes in third period so I ended up washing all my make-up off in the restroom before lunch.

I didn't even bother to go and buy food, instead I immediately walked towards my usual table. Placing my bag on the table I plopped down into my seat and let out a sigh. Looking up I saw Naruto, the lazy ass and mister bushy brows. Fantastic. Out of all the cliques I could have ended up with in Namikaze high school I got stuck with these guys.

"Ino!" Naruto yelled out of nowhere, making me jump. He had this big stupid smile on his face. It started to fade a little when he seemed to feel the distressed aura permeating off of me. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Well, I had a less than lovely conversation with my mother this morning and I got lectured AGAIN by another person. Also, my hair unexpectedly poofed out to the size of Montana and I had no make-up on which all together made me look like a crack addict. But instead of saying all that I just answered with a fake smile and, "Oh, it's nothing Naruto. I'm just sorta tired...hah."

Naruto grinned. "Oh, ok."

Looking over at Shikamaru I noticed that he did not look convinced. While Naruto was busy making very loud conversation with Lee, Shikamaru sat down in the seat next to me and said, "Argument with your mom again?"

Geez, he knew me much too well. "Yeah," I sighed. "Well, it's was more along the lines of her verbally assaulting me and criticizing my fashion sense."

Shikamaru nodded and took a bite out of his sandwich. My stomach growled. "Hey, gimme some of that." I said.

The lazy ass rolled his eyes. "Get your own food."

My left eyebrow twitched. "Fine!" I exclaimed.

At that exact moment, Naruto was trying to open a packet of ketchup at the other side of the table and as I stood up from my seat the packet of ketchup burst open. A line of red liquid flew up into the air as I watched. Almost in slow motion, each curve and cell of the ketchup twisted and turned as it made its descent through the air. I could almost hear the sound of it, whoob-whoosh. My eyes widened as the ketchup landed at its final destination: the crotch part of my jeans. Naruto and Lee gasped. Shikamaru turned his head. I stared at the stain in disbelief.

"Dammit!" I yelled. Snatching my bag I began to march my way out of the lunchroom to the restrooms. "I can take care of this, I can take care of this", I chanted inwardly. As I walked I could hear people snicker and laugh. It didn't register in my head though, but then I looked up and a part of my heart sank. I forgot that right near the exit sat Sasuke and his group.

"Great..." I groaned. I decided to play it cool and just walk past them, but all of their eyes were on me...and the stain. I heard Sasuke and his goons chuckle and then the high, shrill voice of Karin.

Karin: Total bitch.

"Hey!" She said in a tone loud enough so everyone could hear. "Ino, if you need something all you gotta do is ask!" Then Karin took out a tampon from her bag and threw it at my feet. Everyone in the perimeter burst out into a frenzy of laughter. I bit my lip in frustration, my brain mentally screaming. I was so close...SO CLOSE to punching that whore across the face. Instead, I picked up the tampon, put it in my pocket and patted it.

"Thanks, Karin! You're SUCH a great person! I'll pay you back sometime!" I said sarcastically. I then walked out of that hell and hurried my way down the halls to the restrooms. Once I was in I noticed it was very quiet so I assumed no-one else was there. Locking the door of the restroom, I immediately put my bag down and tore off my pants. Walking up to the sink I doused a paper towel with water and soap and began to violently dab the stain with it. After doing this about three times it proved effective. I sighed with happiness.

"Uhm...Ino?"

I nearly jumped three feet into the air when I heard someone talking. Snapping my head around I gasped. "Uh...uh, hey Sakura!" I blurt out, laughing nervously. "Wh-what're you doing here?"

Sakura: My best friend since the beginning of time.

"I had to pee." She answered eyed me up and down, especially around my crotch part. "Ummmm..."

Holy crap, was Sakura just checking me out? I immediately deleted that thought from my brain. She was probably uncomfortable, and I don't blame her. I mean, she just got done going to the bathroom and right when she walks out of the stall she sees a crazy blond chick without any pants on furiously attacking her jeans with a wet paper towel. You usually don't see something like that everyday.

"So explain this all to me again...," Sakura said as she held my jeans under the drying machine to dry. "And at a speed that a normal human could actually comprehend."

I was on the floor sitting on my backpack. I let out an exasperated breath and began to explain the whole predicament again, from my horrible morning to the ketchup incident. "...and that's how I ended up here." I concluded.

Looking up at Sakura, I could see her face twisted up, trying not the laugh. I scowled. "It's not funny, you jerk!" That's when the pink-head exploded into hysterics. After a few moments, even though I was trying so hard to look angry, I joined in with her. Our laughter sounded loud and obnoxious especially since it echoed off the enclosed walls of the restroom. I bet some kids who were walking by could have heard us even though the door was closed.  
Finally, after ten minutes of bone crushing, spleen exploding laughter we both started to calm down.

"I think your pants are dry." Sakura stated as she handed them to me. As I slid the jeans over my waist, she was still staring me over. I just brushed it off.

"Hey, what time is it?" I asked while attempting to make my hair look a bit more presentable.  
Sakura took out her cell phone. "Twelve fifty. We've got about ten minutes until fourth period," She said, put her cell phone away and looked up at me. "So, any plans on how to deal with Karin?"

I shrugged and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. "I'm sure I'll think of something." I could see the reflection of Sakura's smile.

xx

Empty cardboard boxes and a few broken Christmas ornaments were scattered amongst Deidara's driveway. The garage looked even worse. There were boxes upon boxes, stacked up to the ceiling. Walking past the mess I approached the front door and pushed the doorbell. After what seemed like five minutes, I rang it again.

"Alright, alright! Hold on!" A muffled voice hollered from the inside. I could hear faint footsteps and my heart began to beat really fast. I hadn't seen this guy in years. When I was just about to start sixth grade he unexpectedly moved and I had no idea why. He was almost like an older brother to me. Or at least, a really crazy uncle. What if he didn't remember me? What if he blows me off and thinks I'm some weirdo? What if—?

"Hey, what the hell do you want?"

I jumped, a little startled. When I looked up, a pair of cerulean eyes were staring me down. His mouth was frowning and his hair looked a little bit longer from the last time I had seen him. He still looked young though.

"Uh-uhm...," I started out pathetic. "Hi, I'm Ino. I live down the street. We used to be neighbors a really long time ago."

Wow. That flowed smoothly.

Deidara's eyebrow raised and he was scowling. "I don't know any Ino chicks, un."

My heart sank to about negative 200. He didn't remember me. My name didn't even register. I bit my lip and thought for a second. Then, as if the angels of above lighted a bulb on top of my head, I hit an epiphany. It seemed psycho and totally unrealistic, but maybe...just maybe, it could work.

"You told me about mix-tapes, remember?" I burst out in a rush.

Deidara's eyebrow started to raised even more, and then a surprised look invaded his face. "Aye! Now I remember! You're that kid that used to bother me all the time!" He started to laugh and my heart shot up to cloud nine. Yay! He didn't forget me! He stopped laughing and smiled down at me. "Well, it's good to know that there's actually someone human in this place. Come in, un."

Stepping into the house, I noticed it really wasn't that messy. There was a simple couch and matching chairs in the open living room that was right in front of the kitchen. In the kitchen there was a small table and two chairs. Huge paintings and photographs were hanging from the walls. All in all, the design looked really modern.

"Sorry that every thing's so plain," Deidara said. "The movers were complete idiots who kept on dropping everything, so I told them to just leave all the boxes in the garage and I'd take care of it myself. Did you see those broken ornaments in the driveway? Those were goddamn antiques."

While Deidara got some drinks I stared at the paintings on the walls. They were really weird. In one there was a hummingbird fluttering by a black flower that almost looked as if it had teeth. In another there were bright colors splattered all over a mannequin-like looking face who was staring blankly at me. I could never really understand these sort of things.

"So, how you been doing, little miss Ino?" Deidara said as he handed me a Coke and motioned me to sit down at the table. "This place been hell as usual?"

I scoffed and sat down. "Well, more like purgatory. If you don't like it here so much, why'd you move back?"

"Geez, rushing into everything, un?" Deidara said with a grin. "Well, I might as well tell the whole story. This was originally my uncle's house. After social services took me out of my mom's care I had to live here with my uncle. He was the only family they could get a hold of."

He paused to take a sip from his can of soda while I stared at him, wide-eyed. Social services? No way!

"My uncle was a bit of a hermit. A writer too, un. All he really did was stay in his room and work on his novels. After he died I was sent to a foster home. When I was legally able to move out, I did. That's when I was alerted of the fact that my uncle had left me his inheritance, which was his life savings and this house. So, whadda you know? I end up right here again, un."

I sat there, unable to think of what to say. "S-So, what're you gonna do?" I asked, stupidly.

Deidara sighed. "Get a job as a waiter, work on my art, and see where it takes me. Mix-tape life, you know?"

I smiled. "Yeah. I know."

xx

**A/N:** Yes, Ino's mother is a -beep-. So is Karin. :)  
Big thanks to my beta and the peeps who reviewed on the first chapter! You guys keep me pumped! xD Please tell me what you think about this chapter.


	3. Track Three

**「Rewind, Rewind」  
By: **prinzessin at the shakedown  
**Beta: **CrazyNinjaPenguin

xx

**/ Track Three**

The rest of the week was absolute hell. Every God-forsaken time I made my way down the hallway everyone within eyeshot either giggled at my presence or straight out laughed. A couple of chicks actually squealed, "Ewww!" when I walked past them. All of that I could handle, but one day it went too far.

It was Thursday morning, and the aftermath of the 'incident' seemed to have cleared up a bit. But when I got to my locker there were three tampons taped to it. There was also a sticky-note attached to one of them. I bit my lip. I could feel people staring at me, covering their mouths so I wouldn't be able to hear them silently snickering. Dropping my folders on the ground I ripped off the note furiously. 'Hope these will help you!' was written on it in scraggly, messy handwriting.

"I-Ino!"

Snapping my body around at a demonic speed, I faced a familiar comrade. Hinata stared at my locker and at me with wide eyes. "I-Ino, who on Earth would -"

"I have no fucking clue Hinata," I growled lowly, interrupting her. Hinata stepped back a little. I clenched the sticky note in my hand. "But once I find out who, I'm gonna shove these tampons **so far** up their asses that they're gonna -"

"Hah! I see you found your gift, eh, Ino?"

Hinata and I both looked up, and there the culprit was, in all his dog-smelling glory. Standing behind him was his little 'gang': Shino and Kankuro. Oh, so intimidating.

"I thought you might need them," Kiba said nonchalantly, shrugging. "since you had that little 'accident' the other day."

Kiba: the closeted gay, wannabe '_badass_' with horrible hygiene. An all around asshole. Ever since elementary school he's been teasing me every chance he got.

The students standing by laughed at Kiba's statement and then all turned to me, expecting a good comeback. And dammit, I was going to give it to them.

"Oh, I see. I suppose these are all from your emergency stash, am I right?" I retorted, placing my hands on my hips in a defiant manner.

An echoing 'Ooooh' filled the hallways. Hinata giggled cutely by my side. I could even see Kankuro trying to cover up his chuckle. The dog-boy stared at me, baring his fangs. "You should be thanking me. I'm doing you a fucking 'favor', you know."

"Well, you know what?" I hissed, snatching the tampons off of my locker. "I don't really need them anymore. My period ended yesterday." With that, I threw the tampons at Kiba's chest.

The crowd that had formed around us instantaneously burst into a frenzy. The stereotypical 'Ooooh' was passed around, but I could also hear a "Burn, baby, burn!" and "Damn, she OWNS you!". I smirked when I spotted Kiba punching Kankuro in the arm for laughing along with everyone.

"Oh shit, it's the boob woman!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

Boob woman: Principle Tsunade: feminist, loud and alcoholic. Definitely not someone you want to get angry.

Immediately, the whole mass of students disassembled within seconds, leaving only Kankuro and I and a couple of scattered feminine hygiene products in the dust.

"What in the world is going on here?" Tsunade bellowed, her voice shaking the whole hallway. Nearby students started inching themselves as far as they could from our Principle. The boob woman's eyes shot across the perimeter until they finally settled on me and the dog-boy.

"Yamanaka! Inuzuka!"

At a speed that even time couldn't record, Principle Tsunade dashed forward until she was standing right in front of us, her boobs emitting a glow of infinite power. If she had been 200 pounds heavier, with white hair and fire spewing from her mouth, it would have been a perfect reenactment of a scene from Spirited Away.

Kiba was trying to make an attempt at kicking the tampons away, but it proved useless. The boob woman already spotted them. As she bent over to pick them up, Kiba swallowed nervously while I bit my lip from sheer agitation.

"Well," Tsunade proclaimed, holding one of the tampons with her forefinger and thumb. "can either of you explain this?" She pointed at the mess on the ground.

"Uhh...," Kiba started. "You see-"

"I just dropped these on the ground, Miss," I interrupted him, knowing that he was going to make up the LAMEST excuse. "And Kiba, being the dear that he is, was helping me pick them all up," I said all this with a strained voice. I was trying so hard not to bring up my hand and bitch-slap Kiba across the face for what he was putting me through.

"Uh...yeah," the dog boy sputtered, running a nervous hand through his unkept hair. "Haha."

I could tell that the boob woman was not convinced. Her expression was something between pity and "O RLY?". I could tell that my lower lip was going to suffer bruises since I was biting down on it so hard.

Tsunade finally shrugged. "Alright then. Carry on." She then dropped the tampon into my hand. I sort of knew that one of the reasons she let me off the hook this time was because she was a feminist. Then and there it felt SO GOOD to be a girl.

I sighed. "Holy shnaz..."

xx

"I heard what happened this morning," Sakura said, ripping her sandwich in half and giving me a piece.

"Hmph...," I mumbled. "I really hope Kiba gets prostate cancer in the future."

Sakura giggled. "Aww, don't be like that!"

It was after school and since my mother was going to come home late again, I decided that it wouldn't be bad if I hung out with some friends. Or just Sakura. We were at the playground in the Suna Memorial park, sitting on the double slides. Sakura was seated on one slide, while I was sitting beside her on the other one. We watched innocent little children jump and run around in pure bliss while we sat in glum, teenage angst.

"It's not fair," I whined. "I wanna be seven again..."

"Shut up, no you don't," Sakura exhaled and took a bite of her sandwich. I did the same. "Kids don't really know any better, and that's why they're happy. When you get older, your understanding of the world becomes sharper and therefore, you become depressed from all the horrible things going on."

"That's so freaking emo I want to cut myself," I replied sarcastically.

"Oh, Ino," Sakura groaned dramatically. "What in the world am I gonna do with you?"

"I can think of a million things, baby," I flirted, mockingly. Sakura's eyebrow twitched and she landed her Pre-calculus notebook on my head.

"Hey!" I whimpered. "That hurt! Remember, my forehead isn't as big as yours is so I don't have that extra protection!"

Sakura's face tightened with annoyance. "Shuddup, piggy!" She yelled, bringing her notebook down on my head again. I went on offense and threw the rest of my sandwich into her face. Sakura suddenly stopped and gasped. "Oh, no you didn't."

I stuck out my tongue. "Pfft!"

I was sure that all the kids in the park were staring at us now. Who wants to kick around a ball when you can see two teenage girls battle it out with school supplies and sandwich parts? But after about five minutes our little 'fight' had ended. Sakura was flicking sesame seeds off her skirt while I was brushing my hair with my fingers.

"Dear God, I hate you so much," Sakura grumbled, propping her chin on the palm of her hand. I stopped toying with my hair and smiled.

"Awww...," I said, nuzzling my cheek on her shoulder in a joking manner. "I love you too!"

"Tch!" Sakura scoffed, but she patted my head softly. "I guess that's good to know..."

xx

The next morning, I missed the bus. My mom had already left for work so I couldn't get a ride from her, and I couldn't use Iruka in any way since he was out on a business trip for the next three days. So, that left me in the driveway flicking off the bus that was already a mile away.

"Dammit!" I moaned, sitting down groggily on my backpack. "Now what the hell am I supposed to do?" I started to sniffle and then I raised my head to the sky and shouted, "Why do these things happen to me!?"

Mrs. Mura's dog next door started to bark. I continued rambling. "My whole life is like one big, depressing coming-of-age movie! A sexually repressed bisexual teenager stuck in the middle of suburbia with two divorced parents and no pets? It's like 'Pretty in Pink', only I look horrible in pink and my prom is three goddamn years away!"

"Aye, Ino girl. Ya need a ride, un?"

Looking up from my station of adolescent anger, I saw my savior. He was wearing Gucci sunglasses and was in the driver's seat of a fire engine red 1970's Thunderbird.

"Deidara!"

Running around to the other side of the vehicle, I hopped into the shotgun seat. "Thank you so much Deidara! You have no idea how much of a God you look like before me right now."

The wacky artist laughed and ruffled my hair. "Ok, so when does your school start?"

"Uhm, in ten minutes."

"Let's go, un!" Deidara whooped, slamming his foot on the gas. Immediately the car went down the street in the rush of a fabulous red lightning bolt. An old lady who had been gardening started to wave an angry fist at us for blowing away her daffodils. Deidara howled in laughter, finding the whole thing hilarious. The bobblehead Mr. T on the dashboard nodded in agreement.

"Oh, by the way," Deidara began while he swerved around a corner, barely catching the yellow light. "I couldn't help but hear you scream about how you're bisexual?"

I gasped, and turned to look at him, my eyes wide. "Holy crap, you heard all that?"

"Hah," he replied, dashing through a stop sign. "And your life isn't really like 'Pretty in Pink'. Seems more along the lines of 'My Girl' to me, un."

"What? Maybe 'My Girl 2'. At least there's a cute guy in that movie."

"So Macaulay Culkin isn't cute, un?"

"He was when he was like, nine!"

Deidara sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Okay, okay, okay. But seriously, you're bisexual?"

I shrugged. "You know, I have no idea why I said that. I think it was out of frustration. I mean, I do like guys. But at the same time I've had more...I don't know, experiences with girls? Sort of? Dammit, I haven't even gotten my first kiss yet!"

"Don't worry about that, un," Deidara laughed, taking out a cigarette box from the glove compartment. "I didn't get my first kiss until I was sixteen."

My mouth went agape. "You're serious...?"

Deidara nodded. "Yup. And it was from a guy."

I gasped for the second time that day.

"Yup, yup. Hey, I know all about the whole identity crisis thing during your age, un. It drove me insane - oh shit wait," Deidara stopped the car abruptly. A man on a bicycle that had been crossing the street tumbled over in front of us.

"Y-you almost ran me over!" The man exclaimed, an expression of obvious fear on his face.

"Sorry!" Both Deidara and I said in unison, only Deidara's apology had a small '-un' at the end. As the man cleared out of our way, I heard him mutter under his breath, "I shouldn't be going through this crap..."

A minute and a Dunkin' Donuts stop later ("Don't worry un, I just need to get a bagel."), we finally stopped the car in front of Namikaze High with an amazing five minutes to spare until class started. Heaving out a sigh relief, I opened the car door and stepped out, Deidara munching happily on his bagel.

Shutting the door and facing my insane neighbor, I smiled brightly. "Thanks so much!" I exclaimed. Deidara gave me a bagel-mouthed grin and a thumbs up. After swallowing he took his sunglasses off.

"Have a great day at school, un! Ooh, I feel like a dad," Both he and I laughed. A warm feeling was blossoming in my heart and I could tell that today was going to be a great day. But then...

"Heey," a shrill voice from behind me shrieked. Turning around, my eyes were graced by the lovely magenta hue of Karin's hair. Behind her was her little huddle of 'friends', all smirking like theassholes they were. I grimaced.

"I see you're wearing black jeans today," Karin stated, pointing at my pants. "Good thing too, 'cuz you always gotta be prepared." A couple of chicks standing beside her snorted and hid their smiles behind their hands. Biting my lip, I stared down at the ground. I had to play it cool and act as if she didn't bother me. There was really no other way to make her stop teasing me.

"Remember Ino!" The mutated, magenta girl exclaimed. "Us girls always gotta look after each other, so if you need-"

"Karin, stop fucking around."

Looking up, I was surprised to see Sasuke. He was walking up to us, his hands dug deep into his pockets with an annoyed look plastered on his face. "That's enough," he growled. "You're being extremely immature, Karin."

_Wait a minute_, I thought. Was Sasuke defending me?! My eyes widened in disbelief as Sasuke continued to bombard Karin with insults. By the time homeroom bell rang, Karin was to her breaking point, her eyes rimmed with tears. As they all started to walk away, I turned around and gave Deidara a weak smile. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"That girl," he said. "I don't like her one bit."

"I know," I sighed. "I don't like her either."

"Especially her eyebrows," the artist sneered. "They're waxed too thin."

At that I couldn't help but giggle. Deidara looked at me, a mischievous eyebrow raised. "We should be able to take care of that girl, right?"

I looked at him, grinning ear to ear. "Of course!"

Deidara smiled, took his sunglasses and propped them on my head.

xx

**A/N: **Coming up next is a fresh, cold entrée of revenge. Muahahaha! I had fun with this chapter, even if at some points I thought I was overdoing it. And Kiba is always a great character to mess around with, hee-hee. Anyways, another big shout out to my awesome beta and the awesome kids who review! Thanks everyone!


	4. Track Four

**「Rewind, Rewind」  
By: **prinzessin at the shakedown  
**Beta:** CrazyNinjaPenguin

xx

**/ Track 4**

There was a nice, soft breeze in the air as I was walking to Naruto's house. After he and Lee apologized to me an insane seventy one times for the ketchup incident, he invited me to hang out the following Saturday.

When I got to his house and rang the doorbell, a tall, brunette woman answered the door. "Oh, hello!" she greeted me sweetly. "You must be Ino. I'm Miss. Shizune. How nice to meet you!"

I paused a moment. She didn't look anything like Naruto did. Naruto's hair was blonde to the point where it was yellow and Miss. Shizune had dark hair. Her eyes were also a deep brown. When she caught me staring, I froze.

"Oh, you must be wondering why...?" She gestured at her face.

I nodded hesitantly. "Uh-um, yeah," God, I felt horrible.

She chuckled. "Naruto is my adoptive son."

"Ooh! I didn't know...," I stopped and bit my lip nervously.

"Hah, it's alright. Naruto and his friends are out back, waiting for you."

When I got into the backyard, I saw Naruto, Lee and Shikamaru sitting under the shade of the trees and working on something. I stepped down from the porch stairs and a sharp pain went through my foot. "Ow!" I yelped. Looking down, I stepped on...a G.I. Joe?

"Hiya, Ino!" Naruto yelled, waving his arm. "C'mere!"

"'Kay!"

The whole yard was littered with Power Rangers and Transformers action figures. The first thing I saw when I approached my group of friends was a bunch of green plastic soldiers that were in a heap on the ground and scattered metal parts that were disarrayed along with a bunch of other unrecgonizable objects.

"What the hell is this?" I said, scornfully observing the pile of failure set out in front of me.

Naruto looked up at me with sparkling eyes while Shikamaru scratched his butt. "It's our science project!" Naruto cheeped with an overenthusiastic voice. "Me and Lee are -"

"Lee and I, Lee and I," Shikarmaru grumbled, troubled by Naruto's grammar.

Naruto threw him an angry sideways glance but continued. "ME and LEE are working on it, and we're totally gonna land an 'A'! Right Lee?"

Lee, who was kneeling on the ground trying to connect some wires raised both his thumbs. "YUS!" he said exuberantly. "Our confidence is unflailing!"

"You mean unfailing?" Shikamaru grumbled again, his eyebrow twitching. He started mumbling words to himself along the lines of "Why the fuck am I with these people?"

"Oh yeah, the science project!" I exclaimed. I then turned to Shikamaru, my eyes catty. "Shikaaaaa...-"

"No," he said, before I could even start. "I'm already working with Choji and Temari."

"T-Temari?!" I yelled. "You're working with that man of a chick?!"

Naruto and Lee burst out laughing. Shikamaru spoke up in protest. "She's not a man! And besides, she said if I helped her in Science she would get me a meeting with her dad."

"Her dad? Why would you want to meet him?"

"He owns Suna records," Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes as if I didn't know anything. "And since I'm planning to be a producer, I'd like to get some strings attached."

"Oooh..."

Wow, I thought. Shikamaru was already thinking about his career. I pouted. Everyone was always ahead of me.

"You can work with us if you want, Ino," Naruto chirrupped, his eyes radiating like two bright blue orbs of happiness.

"YUS! Join us, Ino!" Lee joined in. "You will be our perfect spokeswoman!"

"Oh?" I said, sitting down on the grass. I was definetly interested now. "And why would that be?"

While Shikamaru looked up at the sky, Lee and Naruto's eyes went straight at my chest. I reached over and smacked them both.  
xx

When I got home, I was in a pretty good mood. After I slipped my shoes off, I skipped into the kitchen and opened the pantry to get a snack. I checked the fridge for any notes and there was one:

_Darling,_

_I'm out for errands. Be back at six o'clock.  
If there's any trouble, you know what to do._

_- Mom_

Glancing at the clock, it was already 5:52pm. I popped a few more chips into my mouth, crumpled the note and threw it in the garbage. Walking over to the answering machine while wiping my hands on my jeans, I checked for messages. There were five.

"Kaneko, it's Iruka. We have to talk. Please call back."

"Kaneko, you can't do this. Please, Kaneko, call back. We have to talk!"

"How can you be like this? How can you leave me like this, after all-"

I cut it off in the middle. My mood fell about 2000 miles below sea level. "What...the...fuck?" I said. Right after I said that I heard a key turning and the front door opening. In walked my mother, with about five bags of clothes in her hands.

"Hello, darling," my mom greeted me and reached her skinny arms around to hug me. I backed away. "What's all this?" she sneered.

"Iruka left five messages on the phone," I said.

My mother scoffed. "Oh, he'll get over it."

"Why did you break up with him?" I asked.

She had both hands on her hips now, her back arched and her head high. "It's only a temporary separation. I need some space, is all."

"That's the same thing you said when we were with dad..."

My mom sighed and rolled her bloodshot eyes. "Ino, please. I don't need this judgement from you."

I exploded. "Why the hell not!? You never tell me anything!"

"Excuse me?" my mother retorted, her face twisting.

I sighed. "You know what? Whatever." I started to walk off, but my mom grabbed my arm violently and pulled me back.

"How could you talk to me like that? Huh!? I do everything for you!"

"Like hell you do!" I yelled. I knew I shouldn't have said that. My head was too clouded with anger for me to think straight. "I wish I was with dad! He never called me fat or ugly and he never made me feel bad and he never EVER-"

A hard slap came across my face. My eyes teared up and my mom was staring down at me like a deranged animal. "I can't BELIEVE you're treating me like this! Your own mother! You're just like all of them! Just like the rest!"

I opened my mouth to speak but my voice came out different. Low. Painful. "It's not my fault," I said. "It's not my fault that everyone left you."

I was slapped again and this time I left myself bang against the counter, a glass of water falling off and hitting the ground in a sad crash. I looked up at my mom but all I saw was a skinny woman with veins pulsing like lava. She left the scene with an overdramatic cry and ran upstairs to her room.

For a minute, I just stood there and stared at the mess. I wiped my eyes and kneeled down to pick up the bigger parts of the broken glass first, just like my dad taught me a long time ago.

"Dont' cry," I hissed to myself. A huge lump was forming in my throat and my eyes stung. "Just don't fucking cry..."

xx

The next day, I woke up groggy and sweaty. My whole body felt weird.

My mother was going to be gone since she had the day off, so that relieved me of the tension. After spending a few hours moping around the house and watching reruns of Project Runway, I decided to do something.

"Hey, Sakura!" I chirped into the telephone.

"Hi, Ino. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Meet me at the park, 'kay?"

"Umm...okay."

When I hung up a sudden burst of emotion welled up in my chest and I started to cry again. "Ugh!" I exclaimed, running into the bathroom. After I calmed myself down I washed my face about 200 times until my eyes didn't look so puffy and red.

There was almost no one at the park when I got there. There weren't even any kids, really, except for a little toddler with his mom. I saw Sakura at our regular spot on the double slides. I hopped my way up the playground and sat next to her.

"Hey!" I greeted her, immediately regretting it. My words came out like Barbie doll.

"Hi, Ino," she said back. A hint on worry was on her voice.

We sat there in awkward silence for what seemed like forever. A slightly chilly wind brushed against us and we both hugged our sweatshirts to ourselves protectively. Finally, Sakura said something.

"Ino, why'd you call me out?"

I paused, then shrugged. "I was bored, that's all."

"Ino, there's a bruise on your cheek."

I froze and my body tensed as if my mom was hitting me again. Dammit, I seethed in my mind. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

A familiar lump was growing in my throat and my eyes stung as I tried to hold back my tears. "I...I-when I opened the refridgerator and the door slammed into my face," I blurted out. Damn, I should be getting a Nobel prize for that one.

"No, it didn't," Sakura said, her voice serious. Her fingertips brushed against the bruise. I flinched. "Ino...," her voice was very soft and flowing. She was being so goddamn nice, I couldn't hold it in anymore. My cheeks felt hot and I could taste the salty flavor of my tears as they found their way to my mouth. Sakura wrapped her arms around me and slowly brought me into contact with her.

We stayed like that for a while. Sakura, holding me, letting me whimper and moan and cry into her neck. I felt pathetic, like a kicked dog. I thought she would have been repulsed by the way I was acting, but I suppose it didn't matter to her.

Then, something very unexpected happened. She pulled back and kissed me gently on my cheek where the bruise formed. I was too busy crying to really care what she was doing. Besides, it was comforting. She continued to do that for a while until I finally calmed down, reducing my crying to little gasps of breath

"You going to be okay?" Sakura asked softly after a long silence.

"Yeah," I replied in a whisper. "Walk me home?"

"Yeah."

The whole walk home, I held her hand in mine tightly. She didn't let go.

xx

**A/N: **Blaa! I had some troubles with this chapter. I'm still trying to set up most of the plot. Anyways! Big thanks to all the readers and my beta! You guys are the bomb. :) Also, Ino's wonderful, tasty revenge will be coming up! Soon...!

...

I hope! xD


	5. Track Five

xx

**/ Track 5**

The following Monday morning was awkward. My mom wouldn't speak to me, let alone look at me. I did the same. When she left for work, she slammed the door shut with an amazing amount of force, which ended up making one of our "family" portraits fall off the wall.

The spring air felt muggy and dank as I walked to the bus stop. I was halfway there when Deidara pulled up in his Thunderbird.

"Need a ride, un?" he asked over the low grumble of the engine. I just nodded in response.

After a couple minutes of awkward silence, Deidara stopped the car abruptly on the side of the road. He took off his sunglasses and turned to face me. "Okay, Ino girl. What happened?"

I stared at my shoes, then at the dashboard and then finally at Deidara. I smiled crookedly and said, "Ah, just an argument with my mom, that's all." I bit my lip out of habit.

"No, not 'that's all'," Deidara replied a bit scornfully. "Look, I know a miserable face when I see one."

I stared at the cup-holder, shamefully. Deidara put his hand on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eye. "Remember, un, I'm always just two houses away."

I took a deep breath and wiped away a tear that was coming down my cheek. "O-ok...I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about, un," Deidara smiled. He then started the ignition and adjusted the rear-view mirror so the both of us could be seen in it. "Now wipe away that sad face and put on a new layer of make up! You've got school!"

xx

The morning went by extremely slow. Each minute felt like an hour and when the bell finally rang, I didn't even have enough energy to feel relieved. I fell asleep in Algebra and woke up to Ms. Kurenai tapping a ruler on my desk. The tapping was irritating. It didn't even sound like taps, more like a fat guy jumping up and down on the third floor of an apartment building.

When I finally raised my head, I hissed under my breath, "Shut the fuck up..."

That made Ms. Kurenai go freaking crazy and before I knew it, I got a detention. As an added bonus, in third period English, Mr. Jiraiya asked me to read my weekend essay assignment to the class. Of course, I didn't have it. I was starting to feel more shitty than ever and by lunchtime I was a morbidly depressed zombie.

When I got to the lunch table, Naruto looked up with a wide smile and said, "Hiya Ino! How are y-" He stopped abruptly once he saw me. That was a wise thing to do too, because if he had finished that question I probably would have stomped him in the nuts.

Once I sat down, the whole table got quiet. Naruto and Lee didn't even attempt to make conversation. After ten minutes of nothing being said, the two finally made an excuse to leave, saying they had to work on the science project.

Right as they left, Shikamaru spoke up. "Your face is bruised."

"Yeah, I know that," I replied, getting agitated.

"Was it your mom?"

"...yeah."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"You want me to tell anyone about it?"

"No, don't."

Shikamaru swallowed his food. "Alright then." He got up to throw away his trash, and when he came back he asked, "You want a hug?"

I didn't say anything for a few moments. "Y-yeah. That would be nice, Shika." Shikamaru put his arms around me and held tight. Man, I was on the verge of tears at that point.

He let go after about two seconds though. I wanted to smack him for that, but I didn't since that was just the sort of guy he was. Simple, quick, to the point...

When the bell rang, Shikamaru put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey," he said. "Don't think I'm not there for you. You're like a sister to me, y'know?"

I nodded and grinned in disbelief. Shikamaru was the last person I could think of that would be able to brighten up my day.

xx

About a week had passed and slowly, each day was beginning to feel better than the last. By the day of the science project presentations I was my 'regular', bouncy self.

"Aww, man! We're totally gonna win this!" Naruto said excitedly as we were setting up our project. "This is gonna be sweet."

"Sweet indeed, my comrades, sweet indeed!" Lee declared.

I laughed. "You guys are such dorks!" Immediately, Lee and Naruto objected. A minute later we were in a heated conversation as to the difference between being a nerd and a dork. I thought they were both the same, but Naruto and Lee thought differently.

"They're both words for the same thing!" I defended myself.

"I beg to differ Ino," Lee interjected. "There is a huge difference between the terms."

"Yeah!" Naruto added. "'Dorks' are those people who go to sci-fi conventions and stuff. 'Nerds' are people who are just really smart at something."

"So you guys are both then?" I shot back, smiling as the both of them realized just how burnt they got.

"Whatever, Ino," Naruto said, crossing his arms. "You'd never understand."

I smirked. "Right. Now hey, explain to me again about these exploding action figure things. I need to remember all this if I'm the one doing all the talking."

Both Lee's and Naruto's eyes lit up immediately when I said that. Lee cleared his throat. I sighed and prepared myself. "Well, you see," he started. "We used the formula 2H2 + O2 which equals to 2H2O. In the Transformers figure to your right, we put in a small balloon-"

He stopped to look up at me to see if I was following along. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He continued, "Sorry, Ino. I'll back up a bit. 2H2 + O2 means two hydrogen molecules with an oxygen molecule. When they're put together, they make two Hydrogen Oxide molecules. But added with a little fire, this formula is also equal to -"

"- BOOM, BABY!" Naruto finished.

I nodded slowly. "How does that explain the balloons though?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "There's a mix of hydrogen and oxygen in the balloons! Since that's there, all we gotta do is light them up, and wham! We got WWII!"

"Look here," Lee said, picking up the Transformers figure and pointing to it's foot.. "There's a small hole. Now see here-" Lee pointed to the battlefield landscape they made for the project. On the landscape there was a small hole and protruding from it was what looked like the string part of a candle. "There's strings that go through the holes. We covered the strings with oil so when we ignite them, the fire will travel faster. And then, once coming in contact with the action figures-"

"-BOOM AGAIN!" Naruto shouted.

"And there you have it," Lee finished, crossing his arms with pride.

To be honest, I almost had no idea what they explained to me. I didn't really understand why they chose me as their spokesperson when I didn't know anything.. I felt bad too since I had barely even helped them with the project; not that they'd let me anyway, since every time I had asked they'd say, "Naw, we got this!"

"Hey, we should test the flame before presentation," Naruto suggested.

Lee nodded in agreement. "Yes. Ino, would you please hold this?" He asked, handing me the Transformer.

For the next few moments, I stood there contently watching my partners set up. That was until I had a little visit from my most favorite person in the world.

"What the hell sort of project is this?" Karin sneered, snatching the Transformer out of my hand. "Leave it to Ino to make up such lame ideas."

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed. "One, it wasn't Ino's idea, and two, this is so NOT lame!"

Karin scoffed. "Shut up, Mister Whiskers." Right after she said that, Naruto's expression changed completely. He looked like a dog who just got kicked in the guts. It made my heart sink. I turned around and glared at Karin.

"Shut the hell up, Karin! This is way more creative than anything YOU could think of! Just what's your project huh, a volcano?"

Karin laughed, "Hah! Oh please, Ino. Stop thinking you can hurt my feelings."

"Oh, of course I can't," I said back. "But with just a few words, Sasuke sure could."

"Shut up!" Karin immediately screeched. "Just what the hell do you know?"

I crossed my arms and smirked. "Do you really think you're anything more than a fan girl in Sasuke's eyes? Bitch, please. I've already been there. The only reason he's really keeping you around is to boost his popularity."

I wanted to laugh. Karin's face was so scrunched up in anger it was hilarious. By the way she kept on glowering at me, I knew I had won this round.

"Whatever, I'm done wasting my time talking to you." Right then, her hand lowered to put the Transformers back on the landscape Naruto and Lee had made. At the same second, Lee shouted from behind the table, "It's lit!"

I watched in terror as Karin continued to put the figure down, seeing every little molecule light up as the flame reached the end of the string. Grabbing Naruto, I flung us both behind the table, right as the action figure went -

BOOM!

xx

"I can't believe this," Principle Tsunade said sharply as she sat down in her chair. She stared all three of us down, our clothes and hair covered with black splotches from the explosion.

"Do you have any idea how many offenses you've committed today?" she continued. None of us answered, so she asked another question. "Do you know what you DID?"

Mustering up every testosterone hormone in my body, I spoke up. "We...endangered the student body?"

The boob woman shot her eyes at me. "Did you now?"

"Y-yes...?"

"OF COURSE YOU DID!" our principle roared, shaking the whole room.

"Hydrogen? Fire? BATTLEFIELDS!? What on Earth were you three trying to do, reenact the Vietnam war!?"

Naruto cleared his throat.. "Well, a-actually, it's was World War two that we were trying-"

"QUIET! I'm not done yet!" Principle Tsunade yelled again. She then took a second to rub her head and take a sip from her mug of coffee. "I really can't believe this," she continued. "I would have expected this from Naruto, but DEFINITELY not from either of you!" She pointed at both Lee and I with her pencil. "Not only did you put everyone in that room in danger, you also damaged school property! Did you honestly think this would be a safe project?"

"W-well, Principle Tsunade, we had no idea it would end up like this," Lee said, trying to defend us all. "When we tested it at home, there was just a small poof of black smoke that secreted from the action figures. We must have put in a wrong dosage of hydrogen..."

The boob woman raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

After a few seconds of silence, our principle sat back down in her chair with a groan. "Look, I know all of you are good kids, and I know you didn't do all this on purpose, so that's why I'm going to let you guys off easy. I want you all to clean up the catastrophe you all made."

All three of us sighed in relief. That wasn't much of a burden.

"...And you all also have Saturday detention for the next five weekends."

"WHAT!?"

xx

**A/N: **Blaaaa! x100. Man, it took me some time until I finally finished this chapter. Anyways, if I'm wrong about all the chemistry formulas and such, I'm really sorry. I got all the info from wikipedia and such. I'm not an expert about that stuff either (I haven't even taken chemistry! Dx). Haha, anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading! Oh! And please tell me what you thought about this chapter and if you liked it or not.

Thanks! :D


	6. Track Six

xx

**/ Track 6**

"There will be no talking!" Ms. Anko yelled, her voice resounding off the classroom walls. "And I expect everyone to do their work like good little children."

She paused a moment.

"Other than that, I have no further orders! Please carry on...," she said sweetly, retreating to her desk. I inwardly groaned. It was a Saturday, I was wasting my day away in detention with an hour and a half of nothing to do but homework. I wanted to scream. Looking to my left and a few seats up, I saw Lee working diligently on his homework. To my right, a few seats beside me, Naruto was already snoring away. Bowing my head in defeat, I took out my math textbook and a notebook.

"Might as well," I whispered to myself.

Just as I had my pencil on the paper, the door opened abruptly. Surprised, my arm jerked forward, breaking the lead from my pencil. I frowned, rested my cheek on my hand and started clicking the pencil to produce more lead.

"Sorry I'm late," said a cool, nonchalant voice. Looking up, I saw none other than Sasuke the great up at Ms. Anko's desk, a hand in his jean pocket, looking all cool. I snorted.

"Hmph," I heard Ms. Anko grunt. "Oh well, at least you're here. Take a seat, Mister Uchiha."

Sasuke sauntered over to the desk next to me and sat down. I cringed in disapproval. Who said he could sit next to me?! There were about a thousand other seats in the room; what made that one so special? Shaking my head, I decided to focus on my homework.

After spending about five minutes staring at the same question in my textbook, I gave up. There was no way. I was tired, bored and the smell of Sasuke's Abercrombie & Fitch cologne was suffocating me. Looking up I saw that even Ms. Anko had succumbed to the dull atmosphere. She was snoring away just like Naruto.

"Errgh...dammit," I growled, resting my forehead on the desk. I don't know how long I stayed in that position, but out of nowhere a finger came out to tap me on the shoulder. I jumped and rose immediately to see who did it. Sitting up, I came face to face with none other than the prince himself, Sasuke.

"CHRISSAKE!" I shrieked, backing up. Sasuke immediately put a hand over my mouth to prevent Ms. Anko from waking up. Instead, Ms. Anko snorted a bit and continued sleeping.

"What the hell, jackass?!" I hissed in the most quiet tone I could after swatting away Sasuke's hand.

"Are you an Sakura going out?" Sasuke immediately replied.

A wave of silence passed as I tried to get over the shock of being asked that question.

"NO!" I finally answered. "Why would you think that?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Nothing," he said. He returned to his work while I sat, still dumbstruck, and slightly nervous.

xx

When I got home I immediately charged to my room and fell on my bed. I was painting my toenails when the phone rang.

"Hello?" I said, resting the phone between my cheek and shoulder.

"Hey," I heard Sakura reply.

"How was detention?" Sakura asked me after thirty minutes of talking about movies and how the upcoming Fall Dance.

"Horrible, what else?" I answered, adjusting the phone's position. "The air was suffocating me, honestly, it was."

"Did you get anything done at least?"

I snorted. "No."

Sakura's sigh of disapproval could be heard and I rolled my eyes.

"Naruto was snoring like a walrus and each minute felt like about five hours," I ranted, wiping away at some nail polish that got on my skin.

"Sasuke also came in and he just had to sit next to me. I almost passed out from all that cologne he had on and you will not believe what he asked me..."

I stopped mid-sentence, not knowing if it was a good idea or not to tell her what Sasuke had asked. If I did tell Sakura, she'd be downright pissed. Or at least, that's what I thought she would be. Maybe if I told her she'd reveal her undying love to me? I blushed and shook my head at the thought.

"Asked you what?" Sakura said.

"Uhmm...," I held the phone away from me. What to say, what to say!? I couldn't just cut it off right there, it would sound suspicious.

"Ino," I heard Sakura say in that "what's going on" sort of tone.

"Err..."

I was freaking out! My head was going back and forth with different explanations, but in the end I stuttered, "Ahaha, nothing, nothing!"

I could already see Sakura raising one of her eyebrows.

"Ino, what the hell-"

"Ah, man!" I exclaimed. "I almost forgot! I got this English essay I need to get done and I haven't even started!"

"Ino, it's Saturday. I'm sure you'll have time to work on it. Now tell me what-"

"Sorry five-head, but I really got to get started on this!" I blurted, regretting the use of the little "five-head" nickname. "I really don't want that hermit teacher of mine to yell at me again and my grade in that class is downright despicable."

"Ino, wait a minute-"

"I'm really sorry! Gotta go!"

I wasted no time hitting the END button on the phone. For the next ten seconds I just stared at the phone in my hands.

"Ahhh!" I groaned, falling back onto my bed and accidentally hitting the headboard. Blushing with embarrassment, I rubbed my head and muttered NC-17 language under my breath.

I stared at the ceiling. A hundred different things were passing through my head all at once. What if more people began to think that Sakura and I were going out? Would people treat me differently? Would my friends abandon me? What would my MOTHER think?

Quickly getting up, I slipped on some flip flops and ran out of the house.

xx

Fake, fluorescent colored feathers and sequins were sprawled all over the place. In one corner there was a bunch of metal bars and in the other there was a flamethrower and some glue guns.

"What is it now, un?" Deidara asked, not even turning around when I entered the garage.

"Are you gay?" I immediately blurted. Deidara stopped his work and turned around to face me.

"Am I what?" he said, one eyebrow raised while the other laid deadpan over his eye. I bit my lip.

"G...gay?" I answered, the volume of my voice barely audible.

There was a pause. Deidara tilted his head up and sighed deeply.

"Ok," he breathed out. He walked over to me, laid his hands heavily down on my shoulders and leaned in to the point where our noses were only about an inch away from each other.

"No, I am not gay, un," he replied. "I fancy to refer to myself as a person free of gender boundaries. As I already told you, yes, I did give up my first kiss to a man, the bastard he was, but that doesn't mean I'm a total fruit. I like myself some fine woman booty sometimes too, un!"

I giggled at his response. He leaned back and put his hands on his hips.

"Now why did you want to know?" he asked.

I switched my weight from one foot to the other.

"Well...," I started. "What was it like? I mean, did you ever tell anyone? Like, how did people react to it? 'Cause I-"

"Jeez, slow down, un," Deidara interrupted me. "First off, I really didn't give a shit what anyone thought of me. Sure, after word got out that I played for both teams, people gave me some strange stares and I almost got beat up, but hey, I got through it."

Deidara walked back to his project and gestured for me to follow him.

"High school's full of vicious animals, un," Deidara continued. "It's true. I don't know what you're going through right now, but whatever happens and whatever people say, it really doesn't matter in the long run."

He picked up a feather and poked in behind my ear.

"You really should let me do your hair one day, un," he concluded.

xx

The next week of school passed slowly. I had this paranoid feeling whenever someone looked at me. On Tuesday morning when I was getting some things out of my locker, a group of girls were whispering and staring at me. At lunch time, I always had a few people keep on peeking at me over their shoulders. When I would turn around, they would quickly whip their heads away from me and continue chatting with their group.

"What the hell...?" I grumbled to myself, biting my lip.

"Wha-?" Naruto said to me over the table, his mouth full of French fries. On the side of his mouth was a little bit of ketchup.

"Naruto!" I exclaimed, grabbing a napkin and wiping his face. "You're such a kid..."

The days went by at an agonizing pace, but amazingly, it was finally Friday. Sakura and I sat next to each other on the slides. The park was surprisingly empty, probably because of the sharp weather that suddenly came into town.

The air was uncomfortable. I had barely seen Sakura all week. When I did see her, I would always try to say hello, but she would push herself into the crowd of students and I would lose her. It seemed like she was ignoring me, but I tried not to think on it much.

"So," I said, trying to start some conversation. "How'd your week go?"

Sakura shrugged. "Alright. Yours?"

"Ok," I replied.

An awkward silence passed.

"What did Sasuke say?" Sakura finally questioned. I tensed.

"It was nothing," I said back, playing with the strings of my sweatshirt. I heard Sakura scoff.

"Whatever," she snapped sharply. The tone of her voice completely disturbed me. Another awkward silence went by. I heard Sakura open her bag and then close it.

"I have to get home. Bye."

Sakura slid down the slide and began to walk off.

"Hey! Wait just a minute!" I exclaimed. I slid down the slide also and chased after her, grabbing at the sleeve of her shirt.

"What the hell's up with you, Sakura?"

"What the hell's up with me?" Sakura yelled. "You're the one who's keeping all these secrets."

"Secrets?" I cried. "Secrets? What secrets? What the hell?! Just because Sasuke asked me something and I refuse to tell you, doesn't mean you have to get all pissy!"

"Ino, you're so annoying!" Sakura shouted. "Go away!"

She pulled away from me and began to walk off again. I was infuriated.

"NO!" I screamed, marching up to Sakura and pushing her around to face me.

"I won't go away until this is cleared up. You've been ignoring me and I want to know why. Don't you dare walk away from me either, I want to know what's going on!"

"Fine!" Sakura yelled into my face. "You want to know?"

"Yes!"

"Do you really fucking want to know?!"

"Yes, Sakura!"

"I REALLY LIKE YOU!" Sakura screamed, so loud that even a few birds had flown away from the trees. I froze completely.

"Wh...what?"

Sakura's face was practically crimson.

"Of course, Ino! Why else would I have kissed you?"

I stood there, my mind completely blown. I watched as tears began to fill up over Sakura's eyes.

"Sakura," I finally breathed. "Sakura, I-"

"No, forget it," she said. "I never should have...I just messed up everything, so just forget it, ok?"

Her voice was shaking. There was a few seconds of silence.

"Bye Ino," Sakura mumbled, turning on her heel and walking away quickly. I watched her exit the park and hurry along home.

The sun was well below the horizon line when I finally got home. Dropping my bag on the floor, I sat on the edge of bed and grabbed my favorite stuffed animal. I squeezed it in my arms, my mind a total blank.

xx

**A/N: **Finally! I got track six uploaded. I'm so sorry it took so long! Dx Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it. Please leave a review! :D


	7. Track Seven

**「Rewind, Rewind」  
By: **prinzessin at the shakedown  
**Beta: **CrazyNinjaPenguin

Xx

**/ Track Seven**

I woke up later that night with my mom poking me in the rib.

"Dinner time," she said.

As she left the room, she switched the light on. The brightness practically blinded me so I squinted my eyes. I lied there, staying in the same position for a few minutes before my mom called me into the kitchen.

On the table was a bag from Taco Bell and two cups full of soda. I blinked.

"This is dinner?" I asked, maybe a bit too blandly.

"Mm-hmm," my mom replied. "I got your favorites. A bean burrito and those little cinnamon things you love so much."

"Uhmm, okay." I said, sitting down at the table. I reached for the bag but my mom got to it before I did. She took out my food and set it on the paper plate that was already on the table for me.

This...was strange.

Eating with my mom watching me the whole time was even more strange.

"Aren't you going to finish your salad?" I asked, already halfway through my burrito. Her meal looked as if it had barely been touched.

"Oh," she said, not even realizing she hadn't really been eating. "It's alright, I'll save it for later. I'm not that hungry."

"Oh, ok."

I ate the rest of my burrito, my mother's eyes gazing at me the whole time. After I was done chewing, I asked, "Mom, anything on your mind?"

"Hm?"

"Well, I dunno. You just seem sorta...worried?"

My mother paused. She did nothing for almost a minute but then, out of nowhere, she threw down her fork and just broke into tears. I froze, a cinnamon twist paused in my gaping mouth.

"M-mom?" I said, hesitantly.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" she hiccupped. "I'm such a bad mother!"

My eyes went wide.

"I knew I should have left you with your father," my mom sobbed. "He would have taken so much better care of you! I'm such a bad mother, I should have died on the spot after you were born!"

I could not believe this shit. First Sakura professes her love to me and now my mom is bawling her eyes out and screaming about how her parental skills are that of a retarded donkey.

"Mom, stop, c'mon," I mumbled under my breath, my palm on my forehead.

"What kind of mother screams and yells at their daughter like I have?" she said, as if she was asking me. "A horrible one, that's the kind! AND I'M THAT KIND!"

"MOTHER!" I exclaimed, standing up and slamming my fists on the table. She stopped instantly, mascara running down her hysterical face.

"You're not a bad mom!" I exclaimed once more.

Her mouth opened slightly, inclining that she was going to say something.

"Oh-ho, no you don't!" I said before she could voice any form of a vowel.

I sighed and fell back into my seat. There was a long stillness and all that could be heard was my mom's sniffling. I took a small breath.

"Listen, mom," I began. "Yes, there are times where I think you're a bitch, and not just a normal bitch, you are like the bitch of all time."

My mother's face contorted and I could tell that she didn't like what I said, but hell, she was pretty much asking for it.

"But I mean...," I paused. "Mom, I could never bring myself to hate you."

My mother looked up at me with such a spark in her eyes. I wanted to barf.

"Really?" she whispered coarsely.

I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, really."

She stared at my for a few moments. Then her face scrunched up and...

"Eeeee-aaaaaaaah!"

...she started bawling again.

"Oh good Lord...," I mumbled..

After much struggle I was able to haul my mom out of the dining room and into her bedroom. I helped her into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. She was still sniffling and crying so I got out a box of tissues.

"Want me to turn the TV on?" I asked.

She nodded. I clicked on the television and switched it to the cooking channel. Emeril was 'bamming' some garlic on what looked like a fish.

After all that motherly crap, I walked to the side of my mom's bed and kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Mom." I said.

She peered up at me from over the covers, her blue eyes exactly identical to mine.

"I love you too..."

xx

"Well that's a Hallmark movie waiting to happen," Deidara said to me the next morning after I told him what happened.

"Oh, shut up." I replied, playing around with some feathers and clay. I formed the clay into what looked like a circular blob and drew a smiling face on it with my nails.

"What the hell is that, un?" Deidara asked, looking over my creation with a critical eye. He poked it and left a dent.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, snatching it back. "I think it's cute."

"Pff," Deidara snorted, returning to his work. In the middle of the garage stood what looked like the skeleton of a huge bird.

"Well, it's not like your creations are the prettiest either."

"Don't get catty with me, un," he said. "Besides, my art isn't intended to be pretty. It's intended to be magnanimous and fantastic."

I rolled my eyes. "Right..."

While he worked on his freaky bird thing, I continued to mold clay. In the middle of doing so, I paused.

"Oh yeah...," I started. "I forgot to tell you."

"Forgot to tell me what?"

"That my best friend confessed that she liked me."

Deidara stopped what he was doing and turned around to face me. "Say what"

It took half an hour for me to explain things thoroughly. After doing so, Deidara shook his head.

"Well," he said. "Sucks to be you."

"No shit," I replied, burying my head into my hands. After a few moments I exclaimed, "It's not fair! Why does she have to like me? I'm her best friend!"

Deidara sighed.

"Things like this happen all the time, un."

"Yeah, so? Why to me?" I whined. "How am I supposed to handle this? God, I'm so confuuuused..."

"Ino-girl, you really gotta stop being so self-centered," Deidara said to me. My mouth dropped.

"Self-centered?" I exclaimed disbelievingly. "How am I being self-centered?"

"Sakura likes you but it's not entirely her fault, un," he said. "Besides, can you imagine how bad she must feel?"

I paused. "No. I...didn't think of that."

Deidara looked at me and grinned.

"Don't worry," he said. "You can handle this, un."

I sighed and rested my head on my palms.

"I friggin' hope so."

xx

"H-Hi Ino!" Hinata greeted me after first period. I smiled and said good morning before taking a few books out of my locker.

"Can you believe it?" she said, as we walked down the hall together. "The e-end of the year dance is coming up!"

I blinked and then gasped.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed.. "You're right! Man, it's the end of the year already?"

Hinata nodded.

"Y-yeah. I find it hard to believe myself. Wh-who are you going with?"

I paused and Sakura popped up in my head. If it weren't for our blow-up, would she have planned to ask me out to the dance?

"I-Ino?"

The sound of Hinata's voice tore me away from my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"I asked who you're pl-planning to go with? To the dance?"

"O-oh," I said. "Umm...ah, honestly I don't know!"

Hinata giggled.

"D-don't worry," she said. "You'll probably have a thousand guys asking you to go to the dance with you before the day's done."

"You think so?" I asked, laughing incredulously.

"Totally!"

She was sort of right. By lunchtime, both Kiba and this random guy I didn't even talk to very much, Kabuto, had asked me to go with them to the dance. I coldly rejected the both of them, but then at the end of the day, Lee had asked me also. I tried my best to turn him down gently and he accepted it, nearly in tears while doing so.

If this had been last week I would have felt ecstatic about being asked out by three different guys in one day, but all I was feeling was guilt. I pouted. It was all Sakura's fault! If she hadn't had confessed to me, I wouldn't be feeling so crappy!

I sighed and remembered what Deidara told me. I was being self-centered. But COME ON, what the hell was I supposed to do?!

Before the end of last class I scribbled a note. It said:

Sakura,

Call me or something? Please?

- Ino

I shoved the note into her locker before heading home.

Xx

I didn't get a call that day. Or the next day. Or the next day after that! I never saw her during school either, so that obviously meant she was avoiding me.

By Thursday, I was pissed off. Why the hell didn't she want to talk to me?  
I knew she was probably angry at me too but didn't she at least want to straighten things out? I still waited by the phone though, anticipating her call.

"Ooh, got a boy calling you?" my mom teased.

"Oh, hush!" I said back, chuckling at the irony of it all. At least I was getting along better with my mother.

By Friday evening, I had given up. This was obviously the end of our friendship. I fell onto my bed and let myself sink into a hole of melancholy, regret, and guilt and recalled all of the memories we had made.

Our First grade field trip to the strawberry fields. Sakura and I got lost. It took two hours for our teachers to find us, and by then we were both crying like babies.

Third grade, when we both furiously competed to be Sasuke's girlfriend even though we both hated his guts in the end.

Seventh grade, when Sakura had her hair cut ridiculously short and I got mine cut the same way so we both could endure being made fun of together.

Before I knew it, I had tears streaming down my face. I sat up and wiped them away.

"This sucks," I said to myself. Why did a friendship this great have to end like this?

"This sucks balls," I repeated. I sat in silence, my arms resting over my knees. I took a deep breath. God, did it hurt.

I could get through this right? I thought. I'm gonna have to...

Then, the phone rang. I looked up, surprised. It rang again. Then again.

I sprung up and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

xx

**A/N: **Ahh! I'm so sorry for such a late update! It took me about forever to figure out how to continue this, but I finally got it! I just hope you all liked reading this. Tell me what you think! Good, bad, crap - whatever, haha. Also, big thanks to my beta! :D


	8. Track Eight

**「Rewind, Rewind」  
By: **prinzessin at the shakedown  
**Beta: **CrazyNinjaPenguin

I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been extremely busy with a lot of things and now that school has started I've been even more busy. Please forgive me! Anyways, here's the ending! It's short, I know. When my creativity isn't being a jerk to me I'll rewrite the ending, but right now, it is what it is. I anticipate everyone's feedback though and I won't blame you if you think it sucks. xD

xx

"If you could...would you completely erase everything?"

xx

"There is no way I'm going to wear that," I told my mother, handing her back the purple monstrosity that she shoved in my hand moments before. "Absolutely no way."

My mom sighed dramatically.

"Ino, darling, stop griping," she said to me, giving me back the dress. "Besides, you asked me to come along with you to pick out a dress, so respect my opinion."

"But I thought you said purple looked horrible on me!"

"Depends on the shade, honey."

"You're such a hypocrite!"

"Ino, stop whining and just try on the dress!" Deidara shouted. Immediately, everyone in the dress store was staring at us. I buried my face in my hands.

Apparently asking my mother and Deidara to accompany me to find a dress for the dance, and then expecting them to act like civilized human beings, was way too much to ask. Especially since Deidara decided that today was the day to wear shiny leather pants.

"Listen to the man, Ino," my mom ordered, giving me back the dress. "Now get into the dressing room."

I let out an exaggerated groan and walked back into the changing room. I'm going to look like a purple egg roll in this, I thought to myself while I slipped on the dress. To my surprise, I didn't. The dress fit snug around my figure, but not too tight. The lacing at the top of the dress showed off my boobs or lack thereof.

I scoffed indignantly. My mom was right. It looked great.

I stepped out of the changing room cautiously. My mother's mouth dropped to the ground. She then continued to make unrecognizable noises that sounded like she was complimenting me. Deidara smiled warmly.

"You look so beautiful. I think I'm going to cry!" my mom exclaimed.

I scoffed. "You're being overdramatic."

Looking at Deidara, I waited for his input.

"You're gonna knock 'em dead," he told me. "You both are."

Behind me a door opened. I turned my head and saw pink, pink, pink.

"Sakura!" I gasped. "...wow!"

The dress she was wearing was, of course, pink. The bust of the dress fit closely to Sakura's body, and right at the waist the fabric broke into elegant ruffles that came down right above her knees.

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms. "Is that all you can say?"

I looked at her with a sarcastic, snotty expression. "I didn't say 'wow' because I thought the dress looked nice, you know."

She huffed and slapped me lightly on the shoulder. I stuck out my tongue.

"Now are you sure you two will be okay?" my mom asked after we bought the dresses. I rolled my eyes.

"We're not five year olds mom, we'll be perfectly fine."

"Besides," Sakura added. "Naruto's will be with us. No one's going to even approach us with him around."

"Sakura!" I said sharply with a smile starting to form at the corner of my lips.

"I just don't want anyone to get hurt," my mom said. I wanted to scoff at her motherly act but decided against it. It was a motherly act but at least it wasn't fake.

"Be careful, un," Deidara told me, ruffling my hair. "Stay clear of crusty old guys and prostitutes, okay?"

"Okay, okay, okay!" I exclaimed, pushing both Deidara and my mom down the street. "Don't you guys have some shopping to do too!?"

I let out a breath of relief when I saw that my mom and Deidara were about three blocks away from us.

"Finally," I sighed. Turning to Sakura, I gave her a wide smile. She gave me a wry grin.

If you could...would you completely erase everything?

I held out my arm.

Would you act as if nothing happened?

We linked together without a word as I answered those questions for the second time in my head. We started down the street with aligned footsteps. All the noises around us became a soundtrack and the street ahead was clear.

Would you?

The comfort of affection and warmth spread from my heart to my brain and then expanded through the veins in my body.

No; most definitely not.

* * *

Well...there you go! I'm so sorry the ending is mediocre. I want to thank everyone who has read this fic though, you guys are the best! I also want to thank my beta for giving me such great guidance. You're all awesome! Without all of you I wouldn't have any inspiration at all for this fic. Thanks and best wishes towards everyone! :D


End file.
